Searching for Justice
by LetsGiveThisOneMoreShot
Summary: Seth was born in a small farm like town. He decided to get out as soon as he could and change just about everything in his life. Unfortunately, the one thing he thought would never change, is the thing that did. And his old best fried has been missing for years. He's now been given the chance to possibly find her, even if it means going back to everything he was trying to leave.
1. Chapter 1

Three men sat down at a table in a catering area set up backstage u =n the arena. THese three men were WWE superstars more commonly known as Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. But just sitting together before the show eating some salads and sandwiches, they were Jon Good, Joe Anoa'i, and Colby Lopez.

"So, you're not on the shows with us this weekend?" Joe said to Colby as he picked through his salad.

"No, not this weekend. I have to go home."

"Ah, the couch city," Jon jokingly said eating his sandwich.

"I wish. I have to go home, home. Like podunk farmville home." Colby corrected with a snort.

"Why? You never really go back there since your mom moved."

"I know." Colby said taking a bite of his food. "Every year their big thing is the strawberry festival. And this year they're opening some time capsule from forever ago. And since I got out of there and became someone I look like a good face for the town so they contacted me and asked me to be there for it and open it with the mayor."

Joe laughed, knowing how much he disliked the area. "And you said yes?"

"What was I supposed to say? You know how Paul and Steph are with charitable things and good publicity. If they had gone straight to them they would have made me do it anyway." Colby defended.

"But you don't care." Jon stated.

"I know. The small town farming life was never for me. I got out of there as soon as I could and moved to the city."

"So why are you really going?" Jon asked.

"I just told you."

"Bull. If you really dislike it there that much, you wouldn't have answered and just hoped that they didn't contact corporate and they wouldn't have ever heard about it. So either you actually do like your little city, or there's something else behind it."

Unfortunately for Colby, spending most of your time on the road and in hotel rooms together, these people can end up knowing you better than you know yourself.

"Why won't you just believe that it's part of the job and I wanted to make myself look like a good guy by going to them first?"

"Because you hate the smell of manure and getting dirt on your clothes which is why you left."

Colby thought for a moment. "Okay, fair point."

"And, usually you'd be dreading going. But actually, you don't seem bothered by it at all." Joe added on.

"I haven't been there in a while. It might be nice to see some old faces." He admitted, picking through his salad.

"Oh, there it is! You got some old girlfriend back home you plan on running into?" Jon chirpped up.

"No, nothing like that."

Jon and Joe just looked at each other confused.

"Look, it's a really big event for the area and I'm hoping an old best friend will show up that I Haven't seen since tenth grade, okay?" Colby finally stated.

"Geez man. I know it's a small town, but they've probably got cell phones by now. You can probably just give them a call." Jon laughed.

Colby chuckled. "I would if I could."

"Why can't you?" Joe asked.

"Do you guys really wanna know?"

Joe nodded.

"At first I was just busting your balls.. But now I'm kind of interested." Jon answered leaning in.

"Okay. Early in middle school, I was kind of the weird kid out. I wasn't into playing football or learning about farming or anything like that. I didn't have a whole lot of people in my life. Then this new family moved in. That was kind of a big deal. It made their kid the odd one out. So I started talking to her so she wouldn't be alone on the walks to and from school. We found out we had a lot in common and ended up spending a lot of time together, Even as we grew and eventually got into stuff and got some more friends, we were still best friends. At the end of tenth grade, I got into wrestling more so was practicing so I wasn't around as much. And then I assumed she was busy doing her own thing. Once school started up I tried to find her, but couldn't. I looked all over for a week before finally asking the principal what happened to her. All I was told was their family moved. And that was it. I never saw her again. I've tried to find her but have never been able to." He explained. "Back then we were all each other had. It created a strong bond between us that I honestly thought would always be there/  
"Woah man. That's deep." Jon said with

"I know. The only one who's in my life now who knew her is my mom. And she doesn't know what happened to her either."

"Maybe it's witness protection."

Joe and Colby just looked at each other, then at Jon like he was an idiot.

"What? Makes perfect sense. Comes into a small town with only a few hundred people. Stays for a few years. Then poof! SHe's just gone. And you could never find her!"

"You're a dumbass you know that?" Joe stated.

"Think about it! A small town where everyone knows everyone and everything but no one knows what happend!"

"I'm sure someone knows what happened. It just didn't dawn on me to sit on a curb and listen to a bunch of middle aged women gossip. I just went on expecting her to eventually call or write, but she never did. I'd like to know why."

There was a sad silence in the air for a few moments.

"Aliens." Jon finally said, breaking the silence sitting back into his chair.

"You aren't helping." Joe said trying to be sympathetic.

Colby nervously laughed. "He's actually brought up two very probably explanations."

"Really?" Joe doubted while now turning to him. "Aliens is probable?"

"Out there it is. Do you know how many people out there in farms come forward saying they've been abducted every year?"

"I can't believe I associate with you two." Joe shook his head as he went to get up from the table.


	2. Chapter 2

Colby was going through his suitcase in his room, putting laundry aside. He still had two days until he had to be at the strawberry festival. It was close enough that he was able to stay at his own home and just drive to it. Normally he would be enjoying his extended stay at his own place, getting able to unwind, but he had too much going on in his mind to be able t relax.

First of all, he didn't particularly want to do this to begin with. An autograph signing where you're sitting behind a table, preferably in an air conditioned place, where people come up to you and you shake their hand, that was fine. But this, God knows how long he'd have to actually be there. It was the middle of June, outside, with who knows how many people. Second, he was running though his mind what he would say if he saw her. Should he be happy to see her? Should he be angry at her for going away Was she angry at him and that's why she never contacted him? Should he go over to her or should he wait and see if she'd come over to him? And of course that was all if she would even be there!

He fought with his mixed emotions in his mind all through the next few days and during the drive to the festival. Once he got there, he pulled his car into the grassy parking lot and looked around Pretty much the same as when he was a kid. He saw vendors setting up some tents to sell their food. A ferris wheel was off in the distance. A strawberry spinning ride was being tested. As old creaky carousel was in the middle. He signed and snapped out of his mental funk and kicked himself into professional mode. When e stepped out of the car he took a look at himself in the reflection of his car window. He pulled his button-down t-shirt down to get any wrinkles out of it. He kept on jeans and some boots just to be casual, but somewhat nice. He took his hair out of the messy ponytail that it was in and pulled it back into a neater looking type bun. Once he was satisfied with how he was presenting himself, he walked across the dirt field over to a makeshift stage where the mayor and a few officials were gathered. He shook hands and smiled with them as they discussed what all would actually happen later on that afternoon.

Around 3:30 that afternoon, the crowd was gathering around the stage as Colby stood on the stage in between the mayor and a large table with the capsule on iit that had been dug up earlier that day. It was to be opened with the people of the town, then that would be the kickoff to the weekend festival.

Colby looked out among the people. He saw a lot of families, which he expected. Some of them being old classmates who now had children of their own. Some people he remembered from when he was a kid who had clearly planted roots and were not keen on wanting to leave. And he saw a small group of press right in the front taking pictures and writing down notes.

"This is a very exciting day for our little town and surrounding areas!" The mayor began to say into the microphone. "This capsule has been buried by the giant oak for one hundred and fifty years and was only unearthed earlier this morning. It will, hopefully, contain memories of our own ancestors that they left for us! And to celebrate this occasion, we have a special guest! Many of you will probably recognize him as WWE Superstar Seth Rollins, but others of you will also recognize him as the kid who i used to yell at for throwing eggs onto my porch."

Colby cracked a smile and put his head down at the old memory. The crowd laughed. He stepped closer and took the microphone from the mayor,

"Thanks mayor Edward." He started. "As he said, many of you know me as Seth. But long ago I used to live right around here and went by Colby, the name my mom gave me. Here is where I Was born. Here is where I went to school. Right back here is where I would go with my friends every summer and spend all our "summer" money on as much junk food as the vendors would sell us. That pond back by the potato farm is where I learned to swim. And almost drowned because I didn't yet know how to swim." The crowd chuckled at his joke. "I lived a very different life back then than I do now. But today isn't about me. Today is about here. A place we all share and all call home. A place where we all went to school. Where we all hung out with our friends. Where we all hopefully didn't drown and farmer Mike hopefully put up a fence. And also, don't throw eggs at people's houses. It's a waste of good protien. It's about the history of our home. Now let's open this sucker up and see what our great-grandparents left us!"

The crowd cheered as he finished his speech. He handed the microphone over to one of the mayor's assistants and walked over to the table with the mayor to open the case. They had to one by one take everything out and place it along the table. Once that was done, the mayor offered anyone who wanted to could come up onto the stage and look at everything, as long as they didnt touch it. At that point Colby jumped down off of the stage and began to walk around scanning the crowd. Some people went right into the festival, some went right up onto the stage, and some went right to him. He was happy to take a few pictures and sign a few autographs. He made some small talk as he looked around. Finally, he caught a glimpse of a girl as she was turning around. Sure it had been about twelve years, but he was almost positive it was her. He excused himself from the conversation he was in and made his way through the crowd of people over to where she was.

"Bridgette!" He called out as he got closer. "Hey! Hold up!"

"Yes?" She asked turning around just as he was talking the last few steps over to her. "Can I Help you?"

"It's me. Colby." He smiled.

"Yes, I saw you up on the stage. Was I supposed to interview you or somethin?" She asked as she was looking through her notes.

He looked at her confused. "No. I, I just wanted to come and say hi. And see how you've been." He stammered.

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" She questioned.

"Of course. If I didn't know you how would I know your name?" He questioned, folding his arms across his chest.

"From up there?" She pointed to the stage. Then to her pres badge that had her name on it.

"Okay, are you messing with me?"

"No, just doing my job. Well, someone else's job really."

"Bridgette?"

"What?"

"It's me."

She sighed. "We've already been through this. Look, I think you have me confused with someone else."

"That'd be an awfully big coincidence/"

She shrugged. "Crazier things have happened. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go."

She stated then turned to walk away.

"You're not staying for the fair?" He asked.

"No. My job was to cover the capsule and the guest, get some pictures, take some notes, and I did. I'm done. Besides, I hate strawberries." She said as she finally turned around. "It was nice meeting you."

"Bridgette, wait." He called after her, but she just kept on walking.

'There is no way that someone with the same name looks like that much like her.' He thought.

"Bridgette!" He called again. Still nothing. He had one final thought that he could try. "London!" He

It seemed as if she had stopped when she heard it, but then shortly kept on walking again.

Thankfully no one had heard their conversation. It just appeared that two people were talking. Once she was gone, another he felt a hand on is shoulder.

"Hey man." The person behind him said.

"Trevor, Hey." Colby said after he turned around shaking his hand.

"I'd like for you to come and meet my son if you have a minute."

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Colby answered with a smile.

The two men turned around and walked over to a woman standing with a little five year old boy.

"Brandon, this is the guy I was telling you I went to school with." Trevor said with his arm around Colby.

"No way! You weren't lying!" The little boy jumped excitedly. "What was Seth like in school daddy?"

"A good student who got good grades." Colby answered himself with a smile. "You have to get good grades if you want to do cool stuff when you grow up."

The remainder of the evening carried on the same way. Seeing and talking with old teachers, classmates, people in general. He had debated on trying to enjoy the fair for a bit but instead decided to just go home. He had enough of fake smiling and just wanted to be by himself. He got back into his car and turned his music up blasting as he begun the half hour drive back home


	3. Chapter 3

Colby sat on the plane with his bag stowed away and his headphones on. He relaxed as much as he could in the cramped seat. He had his arms folded over his stomach and his eyes closed with the music playing into his ears. He wasn't really able to focus on the music with everything that had happened over the weekend. He was trying to wrap his head around it, but things just didn't make sense. Sure twelve years had passed, but that girl had the same facial structure Bridgette had, Not to mention the same name. And she just happened to be in the hometown he and Bridgette used to live in together. And the fact that she just so happened to stop when he yelled out London. She could have just stopped to look at something, but that was just too big of a coincidence. In general, there were just too many coincidences.

Before he knew it, the plane was landing. He put his headphones away and grabbed his bag and began to depart. He made his way over to the car rental rather quickly. He always hated being bothered in airports because he felt like he was on such a strict time limit, but with everything going on his his head he really didn't want to be bothered today. He was hoping he could get through the airport and out without anyone noticing him.

"Hey man." He was greeted as he entered the locker room. "How did everything go"

"Eh, okay." He answered as he picked up his ag and put it onto a bench. "I showed up. I did what I had to do."

"You know, you're starting to sound like me." Jon joked.

Colby groaned. "I know. I just hate being at something like that. Everyone and their mother comes up to you and puts their hands on you and have no boundaries whatsoever just because you used to live there. Some guy you had a history class with a decade ago and never spoke to outside of the four walls of that classroom wants to act like you're best friends." He explained while going through his bag as Joe entered the room. "I really don't mind fans. And I don't mind events. I would just like personal space."

"Sounds like you had a great time." Joe smiled as he came in on the end of the conversation. "How'd the other thing go?"

"Weird?" Colby answered, almost as if he was asking a question himself.

"How so?"

"I swear I found her. And I went up and talked to her. But she said it wasn't her." HE answered.

"Maybe it wasn't."

"She looked just like her."

"It has been a long time…"

"She had the same name."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence?"

Colby shook his head. "No, It had to be her. I just don't know why she acted like she didn't know me. Not even a 'Hi. Oh yeah, I remember you. Well I gotta run bye!'. I feel like I have even more questions now than I did before I went."

"Maybe it wasn't her. You know they say everyone has a doppleganger out there. Her's just happens to also have the same name as the girl she looks like, and ended up in the same town she used to live in, and yeah...even that's too much for me to make sense of." Jon tried as he fat down on a folding chair.

"See! Even he knows it's too crazy for it not to have been her!"

"Okay, let's just say that it was her then. Mayb her acting the way she did was her way of trying to tell you she didn't want you to contact her. Yeah you still don't know why But you haven't heard from her in years, she acted like she didn't know you now. Maybe for whatever reason she just doesn't want to talk to you. At least you know she's alive and she's okay. Hopefully that can give you some kind of closure." Joe said placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. He usually was a good person to go to to be the voice of reason.

"I guess." Colby said back. He went back to sorting through his wrestling gear. He needed to put all of that out of his head right now and get into work mode. He knew no matter what he had going on, he still needed to get in gear and give the people the show they paid to see.

Later that night, Colby was sitting in his hotel room alone on the bed thinking back to what Joe said earlier. It made sense, but it couldn't fully make sense without an explanation. And he had waited far too long for one. And not getting one even after finding her was just driving him crazy. He honestly couldn't remember anything he ever did that could make her mad or upset with him. Certainly not anything that would make her want to drive him out of her life forever and pretend he didn't exist. How could that bring him any kind of closure? It just gives him more questions if anything. He decided he had to try and find her again. Whether she wanted him to or not.

He grabbed his phone and began searching through facebook and google and just about anywhere he could think that would bring up pictures or articles of the event this weekend. Seeing if he could find her article or a picture with her in it. Anything that could somehow lead to some way of contacting her. Soon, the sun started showing the curtains in his room. He hadn't meant to, but he had been up all night. The adrenaline had kept him going. He was going to get to the bottom of this.


	4. Chapter 4

Wednesday morning Bridgette was sitting at the desk in her small office. She had a small cup of coffee next to her keyboard and her notebook on the other side. The sun shone in the window causing a slight glare to her computer screen. She rubbed her forehead as she was reading over some work on the computer when her office phone started to ring.

"Bridgette Moore." She answered.

"Uh, hi." The voice on the other end of the phone stuttered as if he was surprised someone answered.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"I, I need to speak with Bridgette Donnelly."

"Im sorry, I think you have the wrong Bridgette. This is…"

"Yeah, I know you said Moore." The called said cutting her off. "But I'm pretty sure I have the right Bridgette. Names can change. Mine did."

"Who is this?" She asked confused and slightly worried.

"It's me. From the weekend."

"How did you get this number?" She asked perking up in her chair.

"I found the name of the magazine through articles online." He answered.

"But we're not even online!"

"No, but others were. I knew if you were covering the capsule you had to be local. I found a few articles, there were some pictures, I just kind of had to trace everything together. Look, I just need to talk to you okay? You're a total ringer for an old friend of mine. One I was hoping to reunite with over the weekend." He explained.

She just sighed. "Look, Seth…"

"Colby." He corrected, interrupting her.

"Colby, I know you think I'm this person but I'm not."

"You have the same name. The same voice. The same hair. The same mole by your eye. Excuse me if I think that's just a little too coincidental to believe. Hopefully you can see that. Please, just fifteen minutes. If you're really not her you'll be able to convince me of that in that amount of time." He begged.

"Okay, if that's what it'll take to get you to drop this." She replied rubbing her head again.

'I wasn't even supposed to be there this weekend.' She thought.

"Thank you." Colby replied, genuinely sounding like he meant it. "So, what time do you o to lunch?"

"Um, usually around 12:30. Did you want to call back then?"

"I was kind of hoping we would be able to talk in person. There's a diner in town we can go to and grab lunch. Or we can just go right across the street to the coffee shop if that'd be better for you. Whichever…"

"Wait, across the street? Where the hell are you? Are you here?" She asked frantically.

After a short silence, he responded. "I had the day off and it wasn't too far of a drive.

"Three hours. Do not come into this building. I will meet you inside the coffee shop at 12:30 but do not come in here. The police will be called. Do you understand that?" She said trying to sound stern and not frightened.

"Yes."

"12:30. You'll have fifteen minutes. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work."

"That'll work. Thank you."

She hung up her phone and put her forehead into both of her hands. "Crazy. This man is crazy."

Both parties anxiously watched the clock for the rest of the morning. Both for very different reasons. Colby was excited hoping to get some answers, while Bridgette was dreading it and couldn't wait for this meeting to be done with.

12:32 rolled around and she knew it was time for her to go. She gathered up her bag and went downstairs and across the street to the little coffee shop. She walked in and scanned the dark shop for him. As promised, he was there. Sitting at a small two person table while looking out the window and up at the sky completely unaware of anything around him. He had his hands around a cup of coffee but he didn't seem to be drinking too much of it.

"Hi." She said as she walked up to the table breaking him out of his trance."

"Hi." He replied back, smiling. "Thanks for coming. Please, sit." He motioned for the chair across from him. "Did you want anything?"

"No thanks. I'm good. I have my lunch at the office." She replied. "So, how exactly are we going to do this?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"How am I supposed to prove to you that I am or am not a person you think I am?"

"Oddly enough, I didn't really think of that."

"Are you always this crazy?" She suddenly asked.

"I've just convinced myself that you are who I think you are. And if you're really not, you'll know how to prove it. So far, you're not really proving your case."

"How so?" She questioned with an arched eyebrow.

"Some guy tracks you down, after talking with you for a few minutes over the weekend at a public place, then calls you a few days later while you're at your work, he's actually outside of the building and says he wants to meet up with you, and you show up. To me, that shows trust." He explained taking another sip of his coffee.

She just shrugged. "Well, I figured you wouldn't really do anything out in a public place seeing as how people know who you are. If anything happened to me your alibi wouldn't look very good. And where you are with your company right now, I don't think you'd risk that."

"How do you know where I am in the company right now?"

"Because when I was informed I had to cover this and they told me about a "special guest" I looked you up real quick. Google in this day and age is a beautiful thing for my job." She answered.

"You really do have a story for everything don't you?"

"I didn't get into journalism for nothing."

"I guess that does make sense. Do you get to travel a lot?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm actually an editor. Me being there that day was just a last minute thing when the person who was supposed to be there woke up with the flu. There was no one else available so I had no choice but to drive up and do it. Part of the responsibilities of being a little higher up. I'm sure you understand that."

"Editor huh? So you must be pretty good with facts then."

"I guess."

"So do you have any that can prove you're not the Bridgette that I think you are? Because right now you're failing miserably."

"How am I failing? I'm just talking to you about the weekend."

"Exactly. You're openly and comfortably discussing your job with me."

"Well excuse me for trying to be friendly. I really don't have to at all. I don't even have to be there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can have you arrested for everything you did today." She said annoyed as she stood up. "I don't need to prove myself to you or to anyone at all."

She turned around and started towards the exit to the coffee shop. She opened the door and got out of there as quickly as she could out onto the sidewalk. He however was out of the door right behind her.

"London." He called a little loud to get her attention. Which is did causing her to stop in her tracks. "I've still got five minutes. And that was strike three."

She turned around to face him. It looked like she was fighting tears that were trying to form in her eyes. "Will you stop calling me that!"

"If you can give me a good reason." He replied sternly.

"I'm not…"

He took a step towards her on the sidewalk looking down at her eyes cutting her off. "You have a birthmark on the left side of your lower back that slightly looks like a heart. The scar I have on my arm is from when we used to joke around and call it your tramp stamp and you finally got pissed enough to take a swing at me with a rather sharp tree branch. If you can prove to me that you don't have that birthmark, then I'll turn around and walk away and never try and contact you again." She stood there, her mouth slightly open in surprise. She ran her hand through her hair not exactly believing what she was hearing. "I see you've just given up with the nail polish huh? Tired of it always getting chipped? Must happen a lot if you're typing all day." Several tears started to slowly fall down her cheeks. "Care to jump in at any point and tell me I'm wrong? Or do you want me to continue?"

"How do you know all that?"

"Because you're my best friend. You haven't been able to prove otherwise."

She may not have even realized it, but she leaned her forehead forward onto his chest as tears silently fell. He reached his arms up and hugged around her back. "I never thought I'd hear anyone call me that again."

He hugged her tighter. "I was afraid you'd never give me the chance."

After standing there for a minute or two she took a deep breath and stepped back wiping her tears away.

"Does this mean you'll stop fighting me now?" He asked.

"Yes. No. I don't know." She said confused as she crossed her arms. "I can't really pretend I don't know anymore. But I can't deal with knowing you anymore. It was really nice seeing you Colby, but you need to go back home. Your fifteen minutes are up."

She started to walk towards the curb and wait for it to be safe to cross the street back over into her office building. Colby followed her standing behind her.

"That's all I get?" He asked, slightly angry.

"That's all you asked for." She replied arms crossed still looking out over the street at the cars.

"I think I deserve some kind of explanation for the last twelve years!" He argued.

"You asked for time and you asked who I was. That's what you got."

"What the hell did I do to you?" He asked gently taking her arm to try and turn her towards him again.

"Nothing. You never did anything." She said yanking her arm away.

"I must have done something to make you pretend you never met me!"

"Colby, people are going to start to stare…"

"So let them. I really don't care. Maybe they should. Maybe they'll actually remember me."

She sighed. She didn't want any attention drawn to this. "Calm down. You didn't do anything exactly. But you are part of my past. I really wanted to leave my past and start over."

"So you just leave?"

"That part wasn't my choice actually. But once I got the chance, I started over."

"But this is…"

"Cole, there is a lot that I didn't tell you back then. I didn't want to. And I'm trying to get away from it now."

"Wasn't I a good part of your past?" He asked softly. Earlier she pretended as if she had never see him before, and now he was using his nickname only a handful of people ever used.

"About the only good part." She said hugging herself yet again.

"Then let me back in."

"You're a reminder of the past. You might not have been the bad part of it but you remind me of it." She stated upset.

"Let me bring good to the future. We can make more memories to look back on. Let me back in and forget whatever happened in the past and look towards the future."

"Why do you care about this so much?" She asked crying again.

"Because you were my best friend. My sister. My double. The day I found out you moved was like losing part of my soul." He explained emotionally. "Are you honestly going to tell me you just completely forgot about me when you left?" She looked away from him and didn't answer. "We can start over."

She was well aware of the friendship they had, but she didn't still think he'd feel the same way years later. She thought that he'd gain more friends through the wrestling he was doing, and make himself busy through high school and move on slowly forgetting about her over time until one day she was just a distant childhood memory.

"Are you sure you want that?"

He took his hands and cupped her face looking her straight into her eyes. "Would I really be here if I didn't?"

She debated on what to do. Now that he was here, she really would love to have him back in her life, but she was afraid. That would mean telling him everything about her part and worrying that he was going to end up not wanting to deal with it and leaving her.

"Okay. We can get together and actually talk if you want. When do you have time?" SHe asked pulling away and wiping her face.

"I have the rest of today and tomorrow."

She gasped being taken by surprise by his answer. "Wow then. That soon?"

He nodded and smiled. Her hands shook slightly as she looked through her purse to find something she could write her address down on.

"That's my apartment. I have to go back to work now but you can come around 6:30 if you want." She said handing him the piece of paper.

He took the paper with a smile. "I look forward to it."

She gave him a small smile and turned around finally able to cross the street. He watched her and once she got to the other side he called over to her holding up the piece of paper.

"If this address is fake and it takes me another twelve years to track you down again you're going to end up in a head lock."

She just smiled and opened the door to her office building before disappearing.


	5. Chapter 5

Bridgette was straightening up some things around the floor in her apartment when she heard a knock at the door. She looked up at the clock and it was 6:30 on the dot. She went over and opened the door and saw Colby standing somewhat nervously on the other side.

"Hey." She welcomed.

"Hey." She smiled.

She opened the door more and backed up. "Come on it.."

"Thanks."

"So, I see you've grown to be very, punctual." She said.

He chuckled. "Yeah. I guess you could say I have. With my job I kind of have to be at places at specific times or I'm late for an interview or miss a plane or something." He stood nervously with his hands in his pockets for a moment during the awkward silence. "Besides, I was already nearby and just waiting for it to be 6:30 so I could come up."

She slightly laughed as well. "Also very persistent. You can sit down if you want."

He looked behind him at the couch and took a seat at the end. He glanced around the apartment. It was small but it was nice. The living area was just big enough for a couch, a television, and a coffee table. There was a hallway with the bathroom and bedroom off of it, then a small kitchen at the end. He could see the back wall and fridge from where he was sitting on the couch. "Nice place."

"Thanks. It's not much, but it's mine. Um, I'm not sure if you ate anything yet. Did you want to get some dinner while we talked?"

"Sure. I can eat."

"Do you mind if we just order something for delivery? Normally I would cook, if I had more time. But I only got home half an hour ago and didn't exactly expect this."

He smiled. "Delivery is fine. Whatever you want. I'm not really that picky."

"Chinese? There's a place not far by. It probably won't take long."

"I can never say no to chinese."

She went into the kitchen to get the takeout menu so he could look over it. After she ordered the food she joined him back in the living room. He was sitting there with a white fluffy cat on his lap and he was petting his head.

"You have a cat."

"Queso, get down! I'm sorry. I thought he was sleeping on his bed." She apologized as she tried to shoo the cat away.

Colby laughed at her. "Queso?"

"I like mexican food okay?"

"He seems like a cuddly cat. I don't mind him you know."

"Well, I didn't know if you were allergic, or hated cats, or didn't want to get cat hair on your clothes."

"You need to just calm down and relax." He laughed. "It's just me."

"I know it's you. But this is a very different you than the last you that I knew. This you might as well be a stranger."

"And whos fault is that?" Coolby asked.

He could tell she was slightly annoyed and upset by that comment, which he didn't mean to do, but he was very hurt as well and he couldn't completely hide it. Thankfully there was a knock at the door breaking the odd silence that fell over the room. Bridgette went to answer the door to get the food, then brought it into the kitchen. Colby got up off of the couch and followed her. She placed the bag down on the counter and went to get some plates.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean."

"No. You're right."

"I didn't come here to yell at you."

"Just drop it please. If we're going to do this, I don't want to argue." She then felt her cat rubbing against her leg and looked down to see him meowing. "No Queso. This isn't for you this time."

"This time?"

"It gets lonely sometimes. He's my company. Sometimes we share shrimp fried rice. Stop judging me."

They both made some plates out of the food they got to share and went back into the living room. They both sat down on opposite ends of the couch. Queso sat on the floor staring at Bridgette. She pulled out a vegetable from her lo mein and tossed it to him.

"I guess I was wrong about your hair." She said as she put a fork full of food into her mouth. "The long hair seems to be working for you"

"I told you it was a good idea. So, it's just you and Queso here?" He asked trying to get a conversation going.

"Yup. Mom moved down to Florida last year to help grandma so just me. What about you? How are you living these days?"

"I have a house. It's not huge but it's just what I want."

"Just you?"

"Yeah. I'd love to have a dog, but I'm just not home enough. It wouldn't be fair to it."

"True. That must be hard being on the road all the time."

"It can be. Most of my good friends are the ones I'm on the road with. It gets tiring, but I really love what I do."

"So what do you do besides wrestle and work out? With your schedule it doesn't seem like you have much time for anything else.

Colby stopped eating and thought for a minute. "No, that's pretty much it."

"No girlfriend then?"

"Not currently. What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

"Nope. Just me and Queso usually."

"Why though? You wanted to start a new life. Why don't' you do adventurous things or go out a lot with people. Why just sit in here with a cat and work behind a computer all day." Colby questioned.

"I did get a new life. It didn't have to be a wild one. I just wanted to go out and do some things for me. That' what I do. I enjoyed taking pictures of things. It took my mind off of things and I really got into photography. Which got me started where I am. I supplied pictures with them for articles and just kind of moved my way up there. And I enjoy sitting in the park and reading, doing Yoga, cuddling up to a movie. I have my space to just be me."

Colby wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that. He was happy for her that she was doing what she wanted to do and happy with it, but at the same time her reasoning sounded so sad. Almost the reason to why they became friends in the first place.

"So why did you leave?" He finally asked.

"Mom said that we had to move. I didn't really have a say in it. I came home one day and she had stuff packed and said we're leaving and that was it. I didn't have time to come and find you or say goodbye."

"Why didn't you reach out after?"

"Mom said it was best if we just kind of laid low for a while. Then as time went by, I figured it'd be best for both of us if I didn't."

"How could you think that? And what were you laying low from? What was going on with you?"

Bridgette placed her plate on the floor and sat back on the couch and turned her head to look over at Colby.

"Cole, life at home was hard. And the longer we were there the harder it got. Mom always tried to do everything right, but she could only do so much."

He stopped eating as well and turned his body on the couch so he was facing her. "Tell me about it."

She breathed in deep. "We moved in when my mom married my step-dad. They hadn't known each other all that long before they got married, but they met at church and he had a good steady job, and seemed like a good guy. So we were hoping things would finally turn around. Mom wouldn't have to work so hard and we would be happy. But the longer we all stayed in the same house and the more comfortable he got, his bad side started to come out. He yelled at mom all the time. Criticized her about her cooking and cleaning and not being home because she was working. About me. He would never talk to me directly but always go to her if there was something I needed to do. 'Tell your daughter she needs to do the dishes. She needs to pull her weight around here.' It always put more stress on her. But she always tried to make it work. She just wanted us to have what we did before Dad died. She tried to ignore it to make things better for me. But what she didn't know is the older I got, the more he started to ignore her and pay attention to me. I tried to ignore it at first, then I tried to deal with it and not tell mom. Eventually things got so bad with him that I did try and tell mom that he was being weird around me and mean to me. I didn't really give her any details, so she just said that because I was getting older he was just trying to be a good dad to me and help me out." She explained her eyes tearing and small sniffles coming out and sh relived it all in her head. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from Colby. "Then when I told her i was pregnant, things clicked in her head and she figured out what I was trying to say without saying. And she got us out. The next day she packed up and when I came home from school, we left."

"Bridge, I'm so sorry." Colby said as he tried to move closer to her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I never said anything because I didn't want her to be unhappy. And she never said anything about what was going on with her because she just wanted me to have a better life. So we both suffered for longer than we should have."

"I would've been there. I would have helped." He said placing his hand on her knee.

"I know." She said trying to force a small smile. "But I was also afraid that you'd judge me I guess. And I just didn't need that. Hanging out with you and some of the guys was the only happiness I had. I didn't want you to start being different around me making everything suck."

Colby sat on the couch, his hand still on her knee looking at her. He wanted to ask a question, but he wasn't sure just how to do it without upsetting her. He decided there really was no way to avoid it so he tried to ask as gently as possible.

"Bridge, what happened to the baby?

"I lost it." She said wiping away under her eye. "All of the stress of leaving and mom fighting with Scott and not eating properly and everything going on, my body just couldn't handle it."

"I'm so sorry."

"It was what was meant to be. It would've been so hard to raise a baby then, especially with mom just leaving our home and her job and everything. I couldn't have given that baby a good home. But it did help give me life. It brought to light just how fucked up everything was at home and made mom decide to leave. The really messed up thing was, it wasn't even his. But I never told her that because I was so afraid she'd think oh well if that's not it then maybe it's not so bad we can go back."

Just then she heard her cell phone ringing from inside her room.

"I'm sorry, I have to go check that." She said placing her hand on top of his, then getting up and disappearing into her room.

Colby just sat on the couch in awe of everything. He wasn't quite sure what her story would be if he ever found her, but he never thought this would be it. Bridgette always did seem kind of shy and withdrawn around everyone else, but with him she was always this happy bubbly person that he would watch movies with and talk with and listen to music with. He never would have thought that someone was hurting her. And if he did he would have made damn sure that it would have stopped. As she was in her room talking, he also thought about the baby. He had seen her almost every day for months up until the end of the summer and he hadn't known. He had wondered if she had known. Then a thought smacked him in the face. If it wasn't her ex step-father's baby, who's was it? He got up off the couch and walked over to her bedroom door. Just as he got there, she opened the door and almost walked right into him.

"Sorry Cole. I didn't know you were there." She apologized.

"That's okay. Everything alright?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah, it was just work. Letting me know about a scheduling change for printing issues." She answered still standing in the doorway.

He nodded. "Good." Then looking passed her head, he thought he saw something familiar through the crack in the somewhat open door.

"I'm going to go grab a water. Did you want one?" Bridgette asked.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks."

She walked around him and down to the kitchen to grab the water from the fridge. He knew he probably shouldn't have, but he slightly pushed the door open a little more to her room. He had no right to, but he wanted to see if what he saw was what he thought. He took a step into her room and looked around. And there on her wall by her closet door was a poster of Seth Rollins holding the WWE championship.

"Kind of childish to have posters hanging up on your wall, huh?" He heard from behind him causing him to jump.

"I uh, " He stuttered trying to think of something to say about getting caught in her room.

"It's okay. I tried to hide it, but what can you do?"

"You have this in here?" She asked pointing to the poster.

"Of course. I was so proud of you for that. I actually sat here and cried with it happened. Poor Queso, he didn't know what was going on." Bridgette laughed.

"You watched it?"

She sighed. "Cole, I want to forget all of that from my past. I wanted to start a new life, which meant not having you in it everyday. It would just have been too difficult with all that happened. But that doesn't mean I didn't think about you."

"So that's why you knew all that stuff about the business and what I do."

"Guilty. You have no idea how I felt that morning when I got the call saying they needed me for the event and you were the special guest. My heart just dropped into my stomach."

"Well I'm glad you got the call." He smiled. She smiled back at him. "Hey Bridgette, if your dad wasn't you know, who was the father?"

"It happened earlier on in the summer." She replied. "Around early June."

"The night of the strawberry festival?" He asked.

She looked down onto the floor.

"Yeah."


	6. Chapter 6

**Flashback**

It was a warm summer evening. School had been out for a week and the teenagers were still very much enjoying their freedom. Colby, Bridgette, and two other friends of theirs were at the usually vacant lt to enjoy some festivities at the strawberry festival that year. The warm evening as turning into a clear warm night. There was almost a full moon shining in the sky lighting the fair ground up along with all of the stringed lights around.

They spent their night riding the rides, trying their luck at the impossible games, and eating everything from strawberry muffins to deep fried strawberries.

"Okay, seriously whoever thought fried strawberries would be a good idea has something seriously wrong with them." Bridgette said after gagging.

"Yeah well you paid for them." One of their friends said laughing.

"That is a mistake I will never make again."

By now, most of the people were leaving the fair and most of the vendors were closing up. The ferris wheel was still all lit up but winding down for the night.

"Hey, we're going to head to the diner. You guys wanna come?" One of their friends said.

"No, I think I'm good. After that last strawberry, I don't think I can even think of food right now." Bridgette laughed.

"Fair enough. What about you Colby?"

"Nah. I'm not really hungry. I think I'm just gonna head home and watch some old wrestling tapes."

"Suit yourselves."

Their two friends headed off into the distance as Colby and Bridgette were still standing n the fair.

"So what are you going to do with your night?" He asked her.

"I don't know. I might just hang out here for a while. It's a nice night and I might just stay and look up at the stars and relax."

He looked up. It was a very clear night. And other than the lights that came from the ferrris wheel and string lights from the vendors there was no other light pollution in the area.

"Did you want some company?"

"Sure, if you want."

Colby and Bridgette were very close. They knew almost everything about each other. It really was as if one knew what the other was thinking. It wasn't an odd thing for the both of them to be together late in the night. Or up early in the morning going for a run or out to breakfast during the summer. The only thing they really stayed out of was each other's love lives. Colby really wasn't dating anyone at this time. And Bridgette wasn't actually seeing anyone. He knew that she wasn't a virgin like he was, but he didn't know who she had been with. She wouldn't share that with him and he didn't want to pry. Well, he wanted to, but he didn't want to push her and make her mad. And despite what many people probably thought, they weren't romantically involved with each other.

They both sat in the grass by the light of the ferris wheel. Bridgette was just staring up and Colby was just staring at her.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her.

"I dunno. Just life I guess."

"What about it?"

"Just wondering where I'm going to end up in the future." She replied.

"Where do you want to end up?"

"I honestly never really thought about it. But it's probably time I started." She said leaning against him. "Sometimes I just want to go far away. Somewhere where it's warm all year. And sunny. And I can do something that makes me happy rather than something I have to."

"Well that's what you should do." He said putting his arm around her. "Go make yourself happy. That's what I plan on doing."

"Yeah but at least you have a plan." She said looking up at him.

"You can make one of those ya know. It's not as if a magical genie came down and made one for me." He smiled while messing up her hair.

"You're a real jerk sometimes, you know that." She laughed back trying to fix her hair.

She looked up at him smiling down at her. When he was genuine, he had the most beautiful smile. And his brown eyes looked so soft and loving. For the first time, she saw him in a completely different light. He was her best friend, he was like family to her, but right now the love and care he was showing towards her made her think of him as more of a lover than a brother.

She leaned up and took him by surprise by pressing her hips to his. After just a moment he lightly pushed her off of him.

"What are you doing" He asked.

"I, I don't really know. Just the way you looked at me, I couldn't help it." She replied, slightly looking down.

Truth be told, he had been fighting feelings for her lately. The more time they spent together, the more he was seeing her as more of someone he wanted to be with. But at the same time, he didn't want to ever lose what he had with her right now. He wasn't sure if he should ever say something to her, but then this happened. So he figured, I guess it was not or never.

He placed his hand under her chin to lift his face up to hers and gently kissed her again. Rather than either of them pulling away, they just embraced more. He wrapped his hand up in her hair while she wrapped hers around his waist and held onto his back.

They both were thinking that they needed to stop. Stop and discuss what was happening. What any of this meant. If they should continue or stop right now. But neither of them did. They just both let themselves get swept away in the passion under the stars.

Two dumb kids, who didn't talk about their feelings, or think to use any kind of protection.

He walked her home in the very early morning hours holding her hand, yet silent the whole way. That summer, they didn't see that much of each other. Colby had really started trying to get into wrestling for himself, working out and trying to find places to train. It kept him pretty busy. Nt that he was avoiding her. He had seen her every once in a while or gave her a call. They never really talked about what happened though. Just kind of, went on, somewhat awkwardly which is what he didn't want to happen. So he tried his best to make everything seem normal whenever they did see each other. Then two months later, she was gone. And he never heard from her again.

Colby without thinking just plopped down onto her bed. He ran his hands through his hair. "Wow."

After all of this, he finally understood why she was so secretive about her sexual life. And why she got all quiet and shy whenever the topic came up. And then to find all of this out, he really understood why she pushed everyone away. S

"I know."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Does it really matter now?"

"Kind of."

"I don't know Cole. Everything happened so fast. I told mom and she thought it was her husband's and just wanted to get us out so I didn't want to correct her. Then before I know it with everything going on I had really bad cramping and was bleeding, she and my grandmom took me to the hospital, and that was it. I really didn't even get a chance to think about I would have done."

"Would you have…"

"No. God no. I couldn't bring myself to do that. Though, mom kind of thought maybe it would be a good idea. That way I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of my step-dad every day and have him trying to be in it's life. She couldn't understand why I was against it. But I knew it was yours and I just couldn't bring myself to." She explained as she leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed.

That made his anger slightly calm down. He knew she had been threw a lot and everything she had just told him was a living hell for her. But to find out that he would have had a child that he never knew about because she wouldn't tell him was a little upsetting to him.

"I'm sorry Cole. I really am. About everything."

"I just wish you would have told me. You know I wouldn't have judged you. You know I would have been there to protect you."

"Deep down I knew that. But I had just been trying to ignore it and fight it by myself for so long, I didn't want to let anyone in. But then when this happened, that kind of changed everything. Literally everything." She said. "So many times i thought about how that shouldn't have happened, but because it did it got my mom and me out of a bad situation, which is good. But then it also took me away from the friends and the somewhat normal life I had."

"I don't regret it ya know."

She looked over at him.

"That shouldn't have happened. It messed up so much. I should have never kissed you that night."

"Well by that logic, I shouldn't have either." He said getting off of her bed and walking over to her.

"It messed so much up."

"But it made so much right. And I'm here now. We lost a lot of time, but we're here now. We can rebuild what we had. If you'll just let me in we can both be happy again."

"Cole, I am not ready for that at all. The last twenty four hours as been one hell of an emotional roller coaster.

He smiled at her and placed his hand on her cheek. "I'm not talking about going back to that night. I'm talking about going back to how it was before. Back to being friends, back to talking to each other, back to hanging out." He explained, gently rubbing his cheek with her thumb. "I think we both need to time to think about anything romantic. I don't know if either of us are ready or will ever be ready for that again. I just want you back in my life. It was the only thing that was missing."

She smiled and leaned forward hugging him. "I've missed you so much. I missed all those late nights we stayed up talking. The trips to the lake. The snowball fights. Whenever I thought of you, I thought of the childhood where I didn't have to worry or care. Being around you was the only time I was free."

He hugged her tightly. "I've never forgotten about you London. Ever. I always worried about you. Hoped you were safe. Hoped you were okay. I always wanted you to come back."

She just stood there snuggling into his chest. He was always such a sweetheart. So understanding of everything. She wasn't sure what she could have done in her life to deserve an angel like him. Her thoughts were interrupted by him humming London Bridge to her and she laughed slightly. SHe broke away from the hug and looked up at him.

"Do you have a place nearby to stay tonight?" She asked.

"No. I was just going to drive home."

"Why don't you stay here? We can stay up watching movies like we used to and fall asleep on the couch."

He smiled. "As long as we both keep our pants on."

She laughed. "Deal."


	7. Chapter 7

The whole next day they spent together. She called out of work due to personal reasons and they spent the whole day catching each other up on their lives. Making promises to never let this happen again. By the time the day was ending, it was as if the two were carefree teenagers again. Just laughing at each other while throwing popcorn while the other made some corny joke. They definitely weren't acting like adults in their late twenties. The next step in their regained friendship took a little but of convincing on Colby's part. Bridgette was reluctant, but eventually she gave in.

That Monday, Colby entered the arena. It wasn't too long before Joe and Jon were behind him.

"Hey man, how are you feeling?" Joe asked. He remember what he said to Colby, but he knew Colby, he wasn't going to let it go. And he was going to think about it all weekend.

"Good." He smiled.

"Really?" Joe asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, really." Colby replied with a smile. "There's someone I want you to meet." He motion for a woman to walk over to them. "Guys, this is Bridgette. Bridgette, this is Joe and Jon."

The two looked at each other as if not knowing how to handle this. They definitely didn't expect him to find her and bring her there only a few days later.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled.

"You too." Joe said trying to be polite.

"Possibly." Jon said while crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are we waiting until now to meet you? Why have you gone away for so long? And how do we know you aren't going to do it again?"

Colby was taken about by his friend. "Hey man, back off."

"No Cole, it's okay. I understand where he's coming from. I did up and leave without saying anything. It's kind of a long story."

"One that is really none of your business."

"Look if they are ever going to trust me, they should know. If they're really as close to you as you say they are, they deserve to know. And eventually they'll realize that it won't happen again." Bridgette said to him.

Colby looked at his two friends. "Bottom line, she had a fucked up past. Escaped abuse. Left and never contacted anyone so she couldn't be found and could live her life. Got it?" Colby explained, trying to finish this conversation.

"That sounds...understandable." Joe said. Jon still looked doubtful.

"If there is anything you guys would like to know, you can ask. I know he's just trying to protect me, but I need to stop hiding. He made me realize that over the weekend. I'm glad he found me. He deserved to know the truth. Even though I was doing what was best for myself and my mother, he didn't deserve to be hurt like that. I honestly didn't think he would. But that's besides the point. I'm done running. I'm here to live my life the way I want to live it, not how I was living before hiding. Hopefully over time you can see that I am here to stay for as long as Cole will have me." She smiled.

"We don't want to pry. We just want to make sure that he doesn't get hurt again." Joe explained.

"Understood. And I never want to do that again."

"Speak for yourself Joe." Jon said, uncrossing his arms and leaning towards her. "Abuse huh? From who?"

"Step-father." She retorted rather quickly.

"Physical?"

"Sometimes."

"Jon…" Colby tried to chime in.

"Sexual?"

"JON!" Colby yelled.

"Hey, she said I could ask anything."

"Yes. Mental and sexual mostly, sometimes physical if I fought him. I also got pregnant so my mother and I left so we wouldn't have to deal with him again. Satisfied?" Bridgette said, slightly hurting herself by bringing all of this up, especially to perfect strangers.

"Yup." Jon answered leaning back against a stage box. "For now."

Colby shot him a death glare as if telling him to shut up through his eyes.

"So, you two...you a thing?"

"God no." Bridgette spoke.

"Well damn. I mean I know I have my flaws but that was rude." Colby said as she laughed. She had caught him off guard and temporarily caused him to drop his anger.

"What I mean is, we never dated back then and just got back in touch now. That's not what I'm looking for right now."

"Hey, we travel with the man. We don't blame you."

"Thanks Joe. See this is why I don't ever bring anyone around you two."

"Well you guys probably have to get ready for the show and everything. I'm going to leave you be and try and find my seat inside." Bridgette said. "Again, it was nice meeting you all."

She turned and started to walk out of the backstage area. Joe and Colby went into their locker room to get changed and were talking. Neither of them didn't realize that Jon hadn't followed them in and instead ran up behind Bridgette.

"Hey, Colby's friend, wait up!" He called.

She stopped and turned around.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't know about what all happened to you. I was just trying to make sure you weren't going to up and leave and hurt him again. I didn't mean to make you upset."

She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "I appreciate that. Thank you. And it's alright. You two are his best friends. He told me a lot about you guys over the last few days. I understand you wanting to protect him. I really do."

"If you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always come to me or Joe as well. I'm not as crazy as everyone seems to think I am. Besides, if you two are really going to be as close as you used to be, you're probably going to be around us a lot." Jon smiled.

She nodded. Then they both turned and went their separate ways. She went inside the arena and found the seat that was on the ticket that Colby had given her. She looked down at the wrestling ring that she saw on TV. She looked around and tried to take everything in and breathe. There were so many times she debated on going to a show when they came near her, just to be in the same room with him again and see him from afar, but she couldn't never bring herself to do so just in case something happened and he would have somehow seen her. This was all so surreal to her. She couldn't believe that not only was she there, but she was there because he wanted her there. She could watch him compete and tell him how proud she was. Her heart was fluttering. Just then she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

'Should not have brought you. Neither of them will top bugging me about when we're going to hook up.' A text message said.

She smiled. 'Well make sure you tell them again how that is not happening. And make sure to tell them I'm single. Definitely single. ;)'

'Definitely should not have brought you.'

'Aw, is somebody jealous? Don't worry, I'll be sure to back you up sometimes. Just not right now.'

She laughed and put her phone back into her pocket. Just in time for the show to begin. She was starting to feel less tense as the night went on. It didn't feel weird, she didn't feel out of place, she started to feel just like she used to. She could see that he felt the same way. The more time they spent talking and spending time together, the more it felt like that weird a had closed and they hadn't spent any time apart. She finally felt the way she had been looking to feel her whole life. All she really needed was him by her side.

 **End.**

 **Thank you for all who read and followed the story! I hope you enjoyed it! This was my first attempt at writing in a while. Your reading gave me encouragement to continue!**

 **I may do a follow up on them in the future if inspiration hits me. I'll just have to see where my brain takes off next. There are a few other things I'm working on, so we'll see! Thanks again!**


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